Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
richardgao
882
May 1, 2017
Reposting as the prior thread has become too long.
[Stickied] The K7XX FAQ As Audiophiles ourselves, we believe that headphone choice and sound perception are deeply personal. We understand that there will always be people who will not like the K7XX or do not agree with the design choices that have been influenced by the community. That being said, the K7XX is a set we are proud to recommend to newcomers and veterans alike. With over 11K posts and discussions, you can imagine that almost every question has been both asked and answered by the community. A big thank you goes out to all of the community members who, over the course of the past year, have been answering questions and clearing up misconceptions. Below are a few of the most common ones asked. -------- What’s the quick summary of the K7XX? The idea and goal of the K7XX was to take the very best from across the AKG 700-series and create a definitive version designed by and for the audiophile community. Lastly, the goal was to offer this version at an incredible price to performance ratio. The following are a few of the key design features.
1. K702 65th Anniversary Edition Drivers: The K702 65th Anniversary Edition (“Annies”) drivers are considered by the audiophile community to be the best sounding driver in the 700-series family which was the reason it was selected for the K7XX.
2. Memory Foam Padding: Absent in the K701 and K702, the K7XX uses memory foam padding which was first introduced in the K702 65th Anniversary Edition. The impact of this choice is that the Annies and the K7XX maintain the same performance in the highs and mids that the 700-series are known for but with an improved 3dB bass increase.
3. Black Colorway: This one is new and unique to the K7XX and was a result of feedback from the Audiophile community during the design process. In general, there was a strong preference for a sleek all-black look. As project86 (a key contributor on Head-fi) puts it, “[the] K7XX is ninja black and gloriously free of any obnoxious accents. It's arguably the best looking variation in the history of the series.”
4. Same Build Quality & Manufacturing Process: The K7XX is built with the same quality and under the same manufacturing process as the rest of the 700-family. It’s made for audiophiles, and we know that everyone would expect no less. -------- These seem to have a great price to performance ratio. Is it because the K7XX uses cheaper materials? No. -------- Where are these manufactured? How is the quality? A common question that is asked is “where are these made?”. The entire 700-series family, including the K7XX, are produced in China. There is a misconception that AKG manufacturers their headphones in Austria and that there are still Austrian made 700-series available. As an additional point, even the K812 are now made in Slovakia (not Austria). But the broader point is around production processes, quality control, and manufacturing tolerances. These are all principles and concepts that are geographically agnostic and instead depend on the manufacturer and the factory who are the ones who make the decision either to be detailed-oriented or to cut corners. AKG has a history of being the former and has consistently delivered. Lastly, there is a 2-year warranty on the K7XX. -------- Do you need an amp? The K7XX will work fine without an amp. That said, an amplifier, in general, serves to provide clean power and control of the headphone drivers to deliver sound. A supplemental amplifier may sound better than the one bundled in your phone, which is designed for long battery life or earbuds, for example. The AKG K7XX is not a headphone that is known for being especially "difficult to drive" (as they say). You may, however, find benefits in the characteristics of certain amplifiers and how they interact with your source and headphones. -------- Why is the MSRP “so high”? MSRP refers to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price and is the price that the manufacturer recommends retailers sell the product. It does not mean the price that retailers will actually sell the product at and it does not mean the lowest price found online. While the last two examples may change based on sales and retailer pricing decisions, MSRP stays the same. The MSRP for the K7XX reflects the MSRP of the K702 65th Anniversary Edition, the headphone that the K7XX can trace its ancestry too. -------- How do these compare to the other headphones? This has been a hard question for us to answer. Although we have collectively tried and tested hundreds of headphones, it's a challenge to provide an objective opinion (an oxymoron when talking about a hearing experience) as any answer will inevitably include subjective views. We do recommend checking out the comparisons in this discussion and in others (for example on Head-Fi: https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/the-akg-k7xx-massdrop-first-edition-thread.743280/) to get a sense of how the K7XX compares. What we will say though is, as mentioned, one the goals was to offer this version at an incredible price to performance ratio and we are proud of the result.
EdinNJ
271
Aug 26, 2017
richardgaoA lot of gorgeous headphones with ultra-high end materials sound like garbage. I've seen enough threads about headphone mods to know that fancier materials don't always make better sound. Also to know that little changes to things like ear pads can have HUGE impacts. I've seen 701 and 702 'phones, and these don't look any cheaper or worse, and I'd listened to some (a few years ago so memory filters kick in) that I thought, yeah, that's nice, but not nice enough to cough up the discounted retail. Then these came out at a great price, so I thought... OK, let's try them. And when I first listened to these it wasn't "yeah that's nice" it was "whoa, let's try these on my best DAC... hey, let's dive into some binaural recordings... damn, it's midnight, how'd that happen?"
I think Massdrop and AKG figured out a brilliant combination of materials. Many people have concluded these are better sounding than any of the AKG 7xx regular models. Some say only marginally better, some significantly better, but everyone comes back to sound quality for price as unbeatable.
I'm happy to have the version with the red over head wires, which image so much better than the black wires. (Wanna buy a bridge?) Actually, I just like the look. But I give huge kudos to Massdrop for their collaboration with AKG. I think they bumped the performance significantly up... I wouldn't care if they were made of expanded styrofoam as long as they sounded the way they do.
And now I'm going to go put my 7XX on, stream some progressive rock, while I watch the football game and see if the action syncs with the music.
FPantalone
24
Oct 28, 2017
EdinNJI've owned the Q701 (Austrian) for a few years now. Thankfully the black ones :) I haven't heard the 7XX cans, so I can't compare, but i can tell you that the Q's are one of my favourite headphones that I've ever owned ... and I've owned (and sold) HD800's, plus a dozen or more others. The Q's scale VERY well. They are actually fairly hard to drive for a 62 ohm headphone. My best results are with the Asgard 2 amp, which I run at 12 o'clock or more. And I'm not deaf. I wonder about all the comments regarding the lack of low end. I can tell you that if you feed them, they will sing. Lots of good and quite accurate bottom end ... in my opinion. The soundstage is far better than most cans I've experienced and is not that much off of the HD800's as far as I can tell. Certainly not worth an extra 4-5 times the cost, and the need for an amp that will likely set you back a fair amount more than the Asgard 2 at $250. All this to say ... if you can find a good deal on the Q701's, it is certainly worth considering. My problem with 'Massdrop product' is that it's not available to try before you buy, and when it comes to buying audio, especially headphones, it becomes a complete crap shoot. Plus ... everyone has different quality files, playback devices, DAC, amps ... You can read all you want, but the ONLY way to judge whether YOU like it is to listen. We all have complex and 'unique' hearing. Witness how differently people talk about any headphone out there. Hope you enjoy whatever it is you end up with.
EdinNJ
271
Oct 28, 2017
FPantaloneDead right about each person's tastes and hearing being different, but in these days of online shopping, local shops with nice inventories you can try are rare, rare, rare. I've been lucky to find a couple of reviewers who loved headphones I owned and loved, and didn't like a couple that I didn't like... and for reasons reasonably close to my own reasons. Make no mistake... sometimes luck is required, and I lucked out to find reviewers whose tastes are close to mine.
Made me smile to see you loved the 701Q. I had the small on-ear Quincy Jones tuned headphones, which hold a record for me of my most stolen headphones. After my third set was swiped, I decided to not replace them. I'm a huge fan of Quincy Jones' arrangements, I suspected he'd want headphones tuned to sound like you were in the middle of the band, and that's exactly what he did.
Two of the headphone reviewers whose tastes are close to mine raved about the Massdrop 7xx. That got me to leap in. I encourage people to read around on the internet reviews and look for someone whose loves and hates come close to yours. But... so far, I've not read anyone who didn't like the 7xx from Massdrop. And I still maintain that the red headpieces sound better... but I'm big on pranks.
FPantalone
24
Oct 29, 2017
EdinNJMost online vendors have a very reasonable return policy. Massdrop does not. I understand that the model doesn't allow for this. One has to decide if the sometimes small savings and long waits are worth the gamble. Six months for the HD6XX ?? Holy patience !! Red headpieces ? And here I thought it was all in the lime-green cables !!
PS ... the imaging the Q701's offer ... Yikes !! Same on the 7XX ??
RayF
22210
May 2, 2018
FPantaloneFor all who come after—l’ve never had an issue returning an MD purchase.
JJDeviloper
191
Jun 5, 2019
richardgaoI would like to see an option to get a vegan leather headband.
EdinNJ
271
Jun 16, 2019
RayFThe ONLY issue I've had with returns here was clothing. A number of clothing drops have been wildly off size - like I wear an XL shirt, bought an XXL, and it wouldn't fit my son in law who wears an L normally. MassDrop has (maybe had, I haven't checked if it's changed) a "no returns" policy for clothes. But... if these don't sound good then they're broken.
RayF
22210
Jun 16, 2019
EdinNJWell, I don't say shopping at MD is entirely safe, there are some drawbacks. For instance, I would NEVER buy clothing here, A) because, of the cheesy, low-quality, trend-oriented, overpriced crap typically offered by the no-rep apparel merchants that frequent the joint and, B) because as you mention, returns are inconvenient or non-existent. Recently bought a pair of boots from Amazon and paid about fifty-bucks more than MD was selling them for. Know why? Because easy returns are cheaper than eating a pair of boots I couldn't wear if they didn't fit well. Know what else? They didn't fit well and I'm sending them back to Amazon, no-charge and no questions asked. Moral of the story: buy your headphones from MD and your boots from Amazon ;- )
PRODUCTS YOU MAY LIKE
Trending Posts in Audiophile